Lucy

Last night Doreen and I visited the Houston Museum of Natural Science to see the exhibit which includes the actual fossilized bones of Lucy, the most famous Australopithecus afarensis that exists in the world today.

We arrived a bit early for the 6:00 PM open, and had a plan to get in before the huge crowds that we anticipated. We were both surprised at how few people seemed to be there. We got 6:15 entry times (as with many exhibits these days, you get a ticket for a specific time. This helps to reduce crowds) and settled back to wait.

While waiting, Doreen spotted the special events director for the museum. (Did I mention that the museum is inside Doreen’s park?) We talked about the exhibit and the controversy it has engendered. He said he feels that this exhibit will be twice as big as Body World 3, the plasticized bodies exhibit. It was interesting talking to him.

Here, here, here, here and here are links to article about the exhibit, and the controversy surrounding it.

The doors finally opened and we walked in. As we wanted to spend as much time with the fossil as possible, we skipped the food and went straight to the exhibit. We were the only people to do so. We wandered about the Ethiopian Treasures part of the exhibition for a while, completely alone. But we quickly wandered back to the fossil itself.

It was amazing to see this in real life. It is 3.2 million years old, and quite remarkable. We were alone with the bones themselves (I felt as if I could reach in and take one as a souvenir. I don’t think that Doreen would have approved) But something was wrong. We were just TOO alone.

We stayed in there about a half hour, and as we were starting to leave a couple of folks started wandering in. It just seemed that nobody was really that interested in the exhibit. There were plenty of people eating and drinking in the museum proper, but the exhibition was almost empty. Now, it may have gotten crowded later, but we didn’t stick around to find out.

I really don’t think that this is going to be a blockbuster show. I really wanted to see it (and have been bugging Doreen for months to make sure we got these tickets. She is very patient with me) but I don’t think that it has grabbed the popular appeal that something like Body World did. After all, only 40% of people in the US “believe in” evolution! (I wonder how many of those people “believe in” gravity). So the broad appeal of a fossil like this may not be forthcoming.

I hope I am wrong in this assessment. The museum has put a lot of money and pride into getting this thing going. I am very happy that they did, for my own sake. I just hope others in town will be as moved as I am.